Needle



May 11, 1948; w. J. $CHULZ NEEDLE I Filed May 31, 1945 l/VALTER J ScHuLZ I .ATTU NEY IN VEN TOR.

Patented May 11, 1948 UNITED STTES a NEEDLE Walter J. Schulz, San Lan Calif. Application May 31, 1945, Serial No. 596,944 1 Claim. (01. 112-222) (Granted tinder the act of March 3, 1883, as

engaged by the material being sewn so as to fray and weaken said thread. When the needle moves upwardly, the thread is slack and has a tendency to slip or pop out of the longitudinal groove away from the'shuttle of the sewing machine, whereby said shuttle fails to pick up said thread and the machine skips .a stitch. I

An object of the invention is, therefore, .to provide an improved sewing machine needle of such construction as to prevent the thread from contacting the material being sewn prior to passing through the eye of the needle so as to eliminate friction between said thread and material and to confine the thread "so as to assure the same being picked up by the shuttle of the sewing machine. 3 Other objects of the invention are to provide for receiving and directing thread to the eye of the needle and for confining the thread in the opening to shield the same againstfrictional engagement with the material'being sewn prior to passing through said eye; to provide confining means functioning to direct the slack of the thread toward the shuttle of the sewing machine assure said shuttle picking up said thread and ;hereby prevent said rnachine from skipping a ;titch; to provide confining means made integral with the body of the needle so as to form a longi- ;udinal passage in said body with a transverse nlet for receiving and directing said thread; to )rovide a longitudinal thread directing groove and a semi-cylindrical shield rricti-onally engagng around the body of the needle and overlying he intermediate portion of the groove to form a )assa'ge for confining the thread and preventing he same from contacting the material being ewn prior to said thread passing through the we of the needle; to provide'imp'roved elements md arrangements thereof in a sewing machine leedle of the character described; and to carry ut the noted objects in a facile, economical and flicient manner.

In accomplishing these and other objects of the resent invention, I have provided improved deails of structure, the preferred form of which is amended April 30, 1928; 37.0 0. .G. 757) 2 illustratedin the accompanying drawing, wherein: 1 is an enlarged, longitudinal, sectional view of a sewing 'inachine needleiribodying the features ofthepre'sentinventionl' r F g. 2 is an enlarged, elevational view or a mod.- ified form of needle. I I Fig. 31s a horizontal, -cross-sectional view, taken onthe line 3-3 of Fig.2; l

In Fig. 1, the numeral l designates the cylindrical body iii a sewing machine needle having a tapered, pointed lower end 2. A cylindrical eye 3 extends diametrically through the body] innediately above its pointed 'end 2" for receiving thread T and passing or fbr ii thsame hroeg-h the material to be sewnfwhi'ch inaterialis' indicated by the broken lines The outerends of the eye 3am preferably enlarged or flared s t as to provide bevelled recesses 4 below and cammun'icat'ing with said eye. In order to accommodate the thread T upon the downstrekeofthe needle body through'the mag-rain, "a short, longitudinal groove 01' recess 5 is formed in "the exterior surface of said body above the-eye and in vertical alignment with the longitudinal are of said eye. 'Ihelo'wer end of the recess see municates with the -1efthand end of theeye so as to receive that ea directly from said eye and reduce the nict ionaiienga emem between the material and said thread upon the needle body passing through said material, It is preferable to taper'or bevel the upper end {of the recess asshown the h meral 6 and said recess is preferably semi-cylindrical. For"re jeiving and directing the thread to the eye 3, aiongitu inal,cylindrica1passage -"bore 1 is formed in the body in verticalajlig ent with the longitudinal axis of said eyefan'd sagas lower end communicating with the right-hand nd .PQI iQn th i e f h iie me t. at the bore 1 is illustrated as extending "entirely through the body irom the-eyeto the upper end of said body so that the main portion of the latter is hollow nrvtubular. ,A short, longitudinal opening :or sIotTSY-isimrmed in thebod'ygin loom.-

mun-icatio n vwith the upper region 10f vthe here 1 to providelanjinlet iondinecting the, ithizeadito said-bore. Theiupper and 1OWBrenfiSiOflthilat 8 are preterabi-yabevelled 201' grounded ofiassnoevn by t-h'e numeral e and saidl slo't dis-posed iii-1211B same vertical plane with but diametrically opposed to the recess 5 so as to be vertically aligned with the longitudinal axis of the eye 3. It is preferable to bevel or round on the lower extremity of the body portion between the recess 3 and bore as shown by the numeral I 0. The bevelllng or rounding off of the areas 9 and i prevents the abrasion or cutting of the thread by what might otherwise be sharp edges.

Operation The operation of a sewing machine needle constructed as described herein is as follows:

The needle is threaded by inserting the thread T into the slot 8 and feeding the same downwardly through the bore 1 of the body I to the eye 3. From the eye, the thread is passed outwardly through the left-hand endof said eye below the recess and a sufiicient length of thread is drawn through the needle body to assure the same being picked up by the shuttle (not shown) of the sewing machine upon reciprocabody. {The travel of the thread is approximately double the length of the downstroke and at substantially twice the speed, whereby said thread is under tension during said downstroke. The thread is shielded against contact with thematerial prior to passing through the eye 3, due to the provision of the bore 1 and inlet slot 8, in order to minimize frictional resistance to such movement of said thread. The stitched end portion of the thread engages within the recess 5 upon the downstroke of the needle body so as to further eliminate binding of said thread between the material and said body.

During the upward reciprocation of the needle body, the tension upon the thread is removed and suiiicient slack is provided beneath the material to form a loop L which is picked up by the shuttle of the sewing machine so as to form a stitch. Since the thread is confined within the here I, theloop L is formed to the left of the needle body and there is no tendency for the slack; and said loop to be displaced to the right ofsaid body beyond the reachof the shuttle. Subsequent reciprocation of the needle body and travel of the thread occurs with minimum friction and proper positioning the thread loop.

Due to the aforesaid construction which reduces drag or wear upon the thread to a minimum, fraying of said thread is substantially eliminated. Undesirable tension upon the thread is removed by the shielding of said thread prior to its passage through the eye of the needle body so as to facilitate travel or movement of the thread relative to said body. Since the bore 1 extends through the upper end of the needle body, said body may be used as a hollow needle in sewing machines in which the thread is fed downwardly through the needle bar (not shown).

M odifled form Substantially comparable results may be obtained by the modified construction shown in Figs. 2 and 3, wherein a conventional needle body I l is illustrated. The body has a pointed lower end l2 with a, diametric eye 13, having flared or enlarged end portions 14. A groove or recess 15, similar to the recess 5, extends. longitudinally upwardly 4 from one end of the eye I3, while an elongate channel or groove I6 is disposed diametrically or the recess above and in communication with the opposite end of said eye. It is preferable to bevel or taper the upper ends of the recess 15 and groove l6 as shown by the numerals l1 and 18, respectively.

In order to confine the thread T within the groove 16 and direct the same to the eye l3 without frictionally contacting the material M, a semicylindrical plate or shield I9 is adapted to frictionally engage around the body I! for enclosing the major portion of said groove. The shield I9 is formed of thin metal, or other suitable material, and is of less length than the groove so as leave the eye and the upper extremity of said groove exposed. Due to this relationship, the

thread is freely fed or directed to the eye through .the groove without contacting the material upon the downstroke of the body through said material and the thread loop L is properly disposed upon subsequent upward movement of said body. In order to reduce frictional resistance to the passage of the shield through the material, it is preferable to feather the marginal edges of said shield as shown by the numeral 28 (Fig. 3).

While I have shown certain embodiments of my invention, it is apparent that the device is susceptible to further modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. I do not wish, therefore, to be limited by the disclosures set forth, but only by the scope of the appended claim.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

I claim:

A sewing machine needle including, a cylindri cal body having a tapered pointed end, the body having a diametric eye above its pointed end for receiving thread, said body having a longitudinal bore formed therein above the eye with its lower end communicating with said eye adjacent one end thereof, the body having an opening extending radially outward through the wall of the upper portion of said bore, whereby the thread may be directed to the eye through the opening and bore so as to be shielded against the frictional engagement with the material being sewn, said body having an elongate longitudinal recess formed therein diametrically opposed to said bore, said recess lying above said eye and in communication with the other end thereof for receiving said thread therefrom to reduce frictional engagement of the thread with said material.

WALTER J. SCHULZ.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 Date Johnson June 22, 

